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Michael Henriksen | SLC, UT | 04/17/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Unless you're a Bowie fan, going back to this album probably isn't worth your time. Stick to his '70s, early '80s, or most recent stuff. I AM a fan, however, and found that this album is better than you'd expect, given that even Bowie seems willing to disown this album. It's '80s music, which isn't a bad thing, but if you're expecting Let's Dance, you're out of luck, too. This album is much more a product of its time than the product of an artist, which, in a (perverse) way, is exactly what makes this album interesting and worth it for a Bowie fan: Never Let Me Down works as a kind of alternate reality: what would have happened if Bowie had never been Bowie, but just another pop-star? The result is this: average to good pop, with moments of unfulfilled potential and moments of awful, awfulness. The long and short of it is that this album is more interesting in the context of Bowie's catalogue than as an individual album."